David Wilkie, swimmer who won a spectacular gold for GB in the 1976 Montreal Olympics – obituary

Wilkie in 1978: an icon of the Seventies - Steve Lewis/Shutterstock

David Wilkie, who has died of cancer aged 70, delivered one of the greatest swims ever by a British competitor, winning gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in a time of 2 mins 15.11 seconds, breaking the world record by more than three seconds; he also took silver in the 100m with a time of 1 min 3.43 seconds.

Sri Lankan-born, American-trained but Scottish to his core, Wilkie was the only non-American to win gold in the men’s swimming in Canada. He was also the first British man to win Olympic gold in the pool for 68 years and the first British swimmer to take gold since 19-year-old Anita Lonsbrough in the 200m breaststroke in Rome in 1960.

At the same time as being an Olympic record holder, Wilkie held medals in the British, Commonwealth, European and world championships. He was also an icon of the Seventies, instantly recognisable with his long hair, dodgy moustache and pioneering combination of goggles and swimming cap, the former to combat his allergy to chlorinated water and the latter to tuck away his flowing locks.

“He was absolutely phenomenal. His swim in 1976 is still probably the greatest individual performance I have witnessed,” his British coach David Haller told The Daily Telegraph 30 years later, describing Wilkes’s “beautiful fluid technique, powered by the strongest legs in swimming”.

Wilkie celebrates winning gold for Great Britain: his combination of goggles and swimming cap and was pioneering - Alamy

Wilkie could recall in exact detail the day of his gold medal triumph – a 6am wake-up call, small breakfast, then a warm-up swim before the morning heats. “I was more nervous for that 200m heat in Montreal than for any competition in my life,” he said. He was in the last heat of four, having spent the first three watching and analysing the other competitors’ performances.

Nervous or not, he stuck to his plan: go out hard in the first 100m and come back easy. The tactic brought him within 0.08 sec of the world record, then held by the American John Hencken. “I was very confident,” he said. “John was three seconds behind me in qualifying and I knew for him to beat me that night he would have to drop six seconds on his time because I fully intended to swim another three seconds quicker.”

During the afternoon he was unable to relax. Twice in the previous few weeks he had woken up from a bad dream in which he finished second and found himself staring miserably up at Hencken on the winners’ podium. By the time of the final, he was determined to win.

On the starting block Wilkie fiddled nervously with his goggles, as he always did, keeping his mind occupied before the starting gun was fired. “I found it good to have something to do with my hands,” he said. Down the final length he turned in a command performance. “I stopped even being aware of John. Our contest was over, and it just became a race against the clock, and getting as good a time as possible.”

Wilkie with his parents after winning the silver medal in the Men's 200 metre breaststroke at the 1972 Munich Olympics - Ed Lacey/Popperfoto via Getty Images

Recalling being presented with his gold medal, Wilkie described how he only waved at those people who were waving British flags. “I wanted to show the British supporters that I was swimming for Britain and that I was proud to be British.” He retired a month later at the age of only 22, though his world record stood for another six years.

David Andrew Wilkie was born on March 8 1954 in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). His Aberdonian parents, Harry, an engineer, and Jean, were members of the Colombo Swimming Club, where he learnt to swim in the open-air pool. He also swam in the Indian Ocean, recalling an idyllic lifestyle “where the sun shone all the time and you wore shorts”.

At age 11 he was dismayed to be sent with his sister to Scotland, where he experienced the culture shock of being a boarder at Daniel Stewart’s College, Edinburgh. As a member of the elite Warrender Baths Club in Edinburgh he was initially regarded with suspicion as a long-haired “slacker” who avoided training. However, he soon came to the attention of the coach Frank Thomas.

In 1970 Wilkie set a British record for the 200m breaststroke in an international match against Denmark. Later that year he broke his own record at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, causing a stir by becoming one of the first swimmers to compete wearing a swim cap, something that is now the norm.

Wilkie with Sally James on Tiswas - ITV/Shutterstock

He won silver at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the following year began training with Bill Diaz at the University of Miami. More medals and records followed: at the 1973 World Championships in Belgrade; at the following year’s Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand; and at the European Championships in Vienna. In 1975 he was named British Sports Personality of the Year. Then came his Olympic triumphs in Montreal.

In retirement he remained involved in swimming, coaching a younger generation, presenting television programmes such as Winning with Wilkie, and helping to develop swimming technology.

In 1986 he founded the health products company Health Perception, which he sold for £7.8 million in 2004, and in 2009 he was involved in the creation of the pet food business Pet’s Kitchen. He also worked in London for the SportsAid Foundation, of which he had been the first award recipient in 1976.

Many years later Wilkie was admonished by a lifeguard at the Virgin Active swimming club in Bracknell for swimming too fast and bumping another swimmer. Outdoor Swimmer magazine duly coined the phrase “the David Wilkie problem”: how swimming pools with a wide range of abilities among their clientele deal with “lane rage”. Wilkie’s answer was to join another club.

Wilkie, who was appointed MBE in 1977, was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. His engagement to Debbie Raymond, daughter of the Soho strip-club baron Paul Raymond, was called off in 1981 and he is survived by Helen Isacs, a Swedish actress and model, along with their son and daughter.

David Wilkie, born March 8 1954, died May 22 2024

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